 "Jairam Ramesh, Jairam")
As the counting of votes in 542 out of 543 constituencies for the 18th Lok Sabha elections are underway, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh had questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) on why there were delays in vote counting. Ramesh further implied that the Election Commission may have received orders to slow down the counting of votes, which showed a better-than-expected performance by the INDIA bloc.
In a series of posts on X, Ramesh wrote, “Why are the results not being updated at that speed on the Election Commission website and various channels? Why is the process so slow for the last two hours?”
“Where did the orders to slow down come from?” he questioned.
Ramesh also pointed out that there was “much delay” in the counting of votes for seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the ruling party faced tough contests from the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United), respectively.
“Why is there so much delay in counting of votes in many seats of UP and Bihar? This is totally unusual,” he said.
Dear @ECISVEEP, why are the results on the ECI website and various channels not being updated at the pace that they were for the last two hours?
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 4, 2024
Where have the orders for the slowdown come from?
Ramesh posed these questions shortly after sharing on his X account the surprising trends of the Lok Sabha election counting of votes.
“Trends for all 543 seats are now available. The following have become clear: 1. It will be a staggering political and decisively moral defeat for Narendra Modi. 2. The exit polls that he orchestrated have been completely exposed for what they were – a total sham,” he said.
What did exit polls say?
Most exit poll results for Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) return to power with Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister for a third consecutive term. A feat only previously accomplished by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Poll agencies predicted the ruling alliance making inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while sweeping Karnataka. However, for states like Bihar, Rajasthan, and Haryana, polls forecasted a fall in the number of seats won compared to BJP's 2019 victory.
ECI data at 4 pm, however, paints a much closer contest between the two alliances with BJP winning 3 and leading in 240 seats, far below the 272-majority mark. The NDA alliance altogether is leading in 296 seats. Congress has won 3 seats and is leading in only 96 seats, however, the INDIA bloc altogether may surpass 200 seats, far above exit poll predictions.
In a strong reaction to surprising Lok Sabha election results, the Congress on Tuesday also demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction, stating he must resign and “take moral responsibility” for BJP’s performance.
“He used to pretend to be unprecedented. Now it has been proved that the outgoing Prime Minister is going to be a former PM. Take moral responsibility and resign. This is the message of this election,” Ramesh said.
